How to Hatch an Egg in Three Days
by neo-chan
Summary: What do you get when you combine Taichi, Yamato, and an unhatched egg? Fluff, humor, and a cute little Easter tale! [implies future Taito]
1. prologue : the egg

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Digimon or anything like that.

**How to Hatch an Egg in Three Days**  
by: neo-chan

It all began on Thursday, April 17th. The day before Good Friday and also the last day of school for four days. My best friend Tai and I had just gotten out of school and were on the way home when it happened.

I'm Yamato Ishida. I have a little brother named Takeru, who's eleven years old. My parents are divorced and I live with my dad. Takeru, a.k.a. TK, lives with our mother, Natsuko.

Taichi Yagami-that's Tai-is my best friend, as I mentioned. We do everything together. He's got bushy brown hair and brown eyes, and his skin is pretty tan.

As for me, I'm pretty pale. I've got blonde hair and blue eyes. Tai and I are about the same height, but I'm thinner. He's got more muscle, that's why- he plays soccer.

After school that day as we were walking home, we decided to take a shortcut through a little forest. Inside that forest is a little pond, and we stop by sometimes just to watch the animals there. That day, however, there were more than just animals.

"Hey, look!" Tai exclaimed, kneeling down. "An egg!!"

I knelt down also. "What kind of egg?"

"I dunno. Maybe a frog egg?"

"Tai, frog's eggs are way smaller than that. It looks like a bird's egg to me."

Tai picked it up. "Well, maybe it's mom dropped it. Let's take it home!"

"What if the mother's coming back for it?"

"I don't think so, Matt. Come on, we can take care of it until it hatches!"

"What if it dies, Tai?" I may be only thirteen, but I do know that eggs need special care to hatch.

"Enough 'what ifs'!! It'll probably die out here anyway, or another animal will eat it. I say it's safer with us."

And that's how it all began.


	2. WhiteEyes, Ice Cream, and Karaoke Night

**DISCLAIMER:** Hm, let me check... nope, no Digimon here.

**How to Hatch an Egg in Three Days : White-Eyes, Ice Cream, and Karaoke Night**  
by: n-chan

We took the egg to Tai's house. When we got there, his eleven-year old sister Hikari was watching TV.

"What's that?" she asked, getting off the couch and coming over to us.

"An egg," Tai said. I placed the egg on the kitchen counter on top of some tissue.

"Are you gonna eat it?" Hikari asked.

"No, Kari, it's got something inside," I said.

"What?"

"Some kind of bird."

Kari's face lit up. "A bird? Can we keep it?"

"Yup," Tai said without hesitation. I gave him a look. We didn't even know what kind of bird it was yet!

Tai ignored my look. "You wanna help us hatch it, Kar?"

She nodded enthusiastically. Tai met my eyes for a brief second, then they went back to her.

"Ok, then go get a cloth. We're gonna clean the egg."

Kari ran off to get a cloth. Tai looked at me again. "What?"

"Tai, what if it doesn't hatch? Or if it's unhealthy?"

"It's gonna be fine, don't worry."

Just then Kari returned with a cloth. Tai ran it under the tap and put some soap on it, then began gently washing the egg.

After the egg was in a plastic bowl with tissue paper and foam chips in it, the three of us sat down to watch some TV. After a little while, Kari piped up.

"Doesn't a mother bird have to hatch an egg?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, but..." Tai tried to think of an answer. He gave me a pleading glance, but I pretended not to notice.

"...we can hatch it our own way," Tai finally said.

Kari looked skeptical. "How?"

That was a question we didn't have the answer to.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

We went to the library with Kari a bit later to look for books on hatching eggs. After searching for a while, we finally found one. Kari had found us a book on eggs and how to tell which kind they were.

Tai flipped through the book about eggs and found what ours looked like. There were some that looked the same, so we had to do a bit of measuring and stuff. But eventually, we knew what it was.

"The Japanese White-Eyes, or Mejiros, are relatively small songbirds," Tai read. "They range from 4 to 4.5 inches. White-Eyes have a slightly curved black bill extending from their yellow forehead. The name White-Eye was given because of the silky white rings around the eyes. This feature is not always distinct in young White-Eyes."

"Keep reading," I said.

"The colors of the White-Eye's back range from olive to dusky green. Blackish-brown outlined in green covers the top of the tail and it's flight feathers. The underside of the tail and chin are both yellow. The throat is also yellow, with one single bang of smoke grey. The middle of the breast and belly are yellowish-white with the rest of the under parts pale brown. The feet and legs are black."

"And how do we know this is our bird?" I asked.

"The Mejiro lays two to five pale blue eggs, which take about 11 days to incubate," Tai read.

I looked at the egg. It was pale blue, but I still wasn't convinced.

"A lot of birds have blue eggs," I said.

Tai rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever. Anyway, it says that the White-Eyes are easy to tame and are good pets."

I sighed. "Well, what do they eat? We're gonna have to feed it when it hatches, right?"

Tai grinned, happy to have gotten his way. "They eat a bunch of insects and fruits."

"That shouldn't be too hard." I picked up the book on how to hatch eggs. "Now we just have to find out how to hatch it."

"First let's make it a nest. It says that the nests are made of grass, string, tin foil, leaves, spiderwebs... and sometimes the nests are lined with human hair..."

Tai turned towards me, eyeing my hair. I took a step back.

"Oh, no. No way! Tai, you are not **touching** my hair! Cut yours, you could use a haircut!"

"But your hair's soft," Tai insisted. "It's perfect!"

"Please?" Kari chimed in.

I looked from Tai to Kari, then to the egg. I crossed my arms.

"My hair is staying exactly the same as it is right now."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

I looked in the mirror, lifting one hand to finger my golden locks. Tai entered the bathroom with scissors. He'd brought in a chair, and motioned for me to sit down on it.

"I'm not gonna cut off a lot," Tai said. "You'll barely notice the difference."

"Can't we just take it off your hair?" I asked nervously.

"I told you, your hair's softer. Besides," he cracked a smile. "It'll be fun to see your face."

I sat down, looking one last time in the mirror, then squeezing my eyes shut.

A few minutes and several scissor snips later, I opened my eyes.

"Do I really want to look in the mirror?" I said aloud.

Tai rolled his eyes. "It's not that bad, Matt. You can barely tell."

I turned slowly and looked in the mirror. Tai was actually right. It looked like I had only gotten a trim. I let out a relieved sigh. "Thank God."

"What, you don't trust me?"

I snorted. "No!"

"Hey, I still have scissors in my hand..."

I laughed and darted out of the washroom.

We made the nest for the egg out of leaves, string, grass, and tin foil and lined it with my hair. Then we placed the egg inside.

"We did a good job," Tai observed, looking at our nest proudly.

"The hard thing now is hatching it," I pointed out.

Tai snapped. "That's right! The book!"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The book was great and all, but we didn't have an incubator or a heating pad or any of that stuff used to hatch eggs. So we made up our own way.

We cut out a piece of cardboard and made it into walls and a roof for the nest, leaving one side open. Then we attached three tiny lightbulbs to the side walls and the "roof".

"That should keep it warm enough to hatch," Tai said. "Now all we have to do is wait."

"I wonder how long it was sitting there for until we picked it up," I said.

"Is the bird gonna be like an Easter chick?" Kari asked.

"No-" Tai started to say, but I interrupted.

"Kind of," I lied. "It'll probably be born on Easter, too."

"Cool!" Kari exclaimed.

Tai flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV. "You gonna stay a while longer?"

I shrugged. "Nah, I'd better get home."

I put on my shoes and jacket. "See you later, Tai. Bye, Kari."

"Later," Tai said, and Kari waved goodbye to me.

It only took me about a minute to get to my place. Why? Well, we live in the same apartment building. He lives on the fifth floor and I live on the seventh. My little brother TK and my mom live in a building nearby. How near? About half a minute walking. So I see TK all the time.

My dad was still at work when I got home, so I decided to go over to visit my mom and TK and have dinner there. Sometimes my dad gets home kind of late, so I go to Tai's or my mom's.

"Hi, Yamato," my mom said, opening the door for me. She placed a kiss on my cheek, then went back to the kitchen to tend to her cooking.

TK came to the door to greet me. "Hi, Matt!"

I grinned. "Hey, Teeks."

TK knows Kari, and they're good friends like me and Tai. My mom and Tai's mom are also friends. They've known eachother since high school, so me and Tai grew up together. Kari and TK met eachother soon after they were born, too, so they were destined to be friends, too.

I ate dinner there and stayed for about an hour afterwards, then went home. My dad still wasn't there, so I sat on the couch and started channel surfing.

At about 8:30, the doorknob turned and my dad walked in.

"Hey, Yamato. How was your day?"

"Good. Yours?"

"Very tiring. I'm glad I've got the weekend off. Thank God for holidays."

"Yeah, too much school can make a person go crazy."

My dad laughed. "So, you eat dinner yet?"

"Yeah, I went over to Mom's."

"How's your mother?" Dad asked, going into the kitchen and opening the fridge.

"She's good."

"And TK?"

"He's good, too."

Dad came back into the living room and glanced at the TV. I was flipping through channels. "You want to watch a movie? I rented a few I think you'll like."

"Sure, Dad." I turned on the VCR and began to look through the movies he'd handed me.

My dad stuck something in the oven to cook for himself and set the timer.

"So, anything new?" he asked.

I thought for a moment. "Actually, yeah."

"Really? What?"

"Me and Tai found an egg near the pond, so we set up a little nest for it and used lightbulbs to heat it so it'll hatch."

"That sounds like fun. Is Tai going to keep it after it hatches?"

"Yup. Kari's really excited about it." I popped in a movie.

By the time the previews were over, my dad's food was ready and he sat down next to me with his plate.

Soon after the movie ended, I went to bed. Knowing Tai, he probably had a lot planned for tomorrow, and I'd need a lot of energy to go along with his plans.

That night, I dreamed about a giant egg and a bunch of White-Eyes guarding it, with me and Tai trying to get past them. When we finally did, there was a door to the inside of the egg. We went in and Kari was sitting on a throne made of several White-Eye nests. A bunch of Easter chicks and bunnies were also there. TK was sitting on top of an egg, trying to hatch it, I assume.

When I woke up, I wondered how I got into such a mess in the first place.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Friday afternoon, I went to Tai's place.

"Hey, Matt," Tai said when he opened the door. "Me and Kari are decorating some eggs. Wanna help?"

"Sure," I said with a shrug.

Kari looked up when I walked into the kitchen. "Look at my egg!" she said proudly.

Kari held up an egg with what resembled a yellow bird on it.

"It's nice," I said, trying to sound sincere.

All of a sudden, Tai gasped.

"It moved! I saw it! It did!"

Kari and I abandoned our egg-making and went to join Tai by the egg.

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"The egg moved!" Tai exclaimed.

Kari's eyes widened. "Is the bird coming out?"

Neither of us answered, unsure of what to tell her. We stood there for five or ten minutes longer, then I moved to start decorating eggs again. Tai joined me after a few more minutes.

But Kari stayed there for the longest time, just watching the egg to see if it would move again.

"Kari?" I finally said. "I don't think the egg is gonna move again."

Kari looked at me. "But what if it does?"

I had nothing to say to that.

"Kari, come on." Tai put the egg he was decorating down and walked out of the kitchen. "Let's get some ice cream."

As soon as she heard that, Kari ran to get her shoes on. I laughed and Tai winked at me.

It was pretty nice outside, with a light breeze. When we got to the ice cream parlor, Kari couldn't choose which flavour to get. Finally, she narrowed it down to Strawberry Swirl or Caramel Twist.

"Which one should I get?" she asked us.

"Strawberry Swirl," I said, at the same time that Tai said, "Caramel Twist."

We looked at eachother wearily.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Tai said. "Why don't you get one scoop of each?"

That solved the problem. Kari happily skipped out of the store with her Strawberry Swirl and Caramel Twist ice cream cone.

I'd gotten French Vanilla ice cream, and Tai had chosen Chocolate Fudge. Everything seemed to be going fine until halfway home, it got cooler out.

I looked up at the sky. "Uh oh."

Tai also looked up. "Oh, great."

That very second, it started to rain lightly.

Tai and I glanced at eachother, then started walking faster. A minute later, it was pouring.

"My ice cream's getting wet," Kari complained.

"We should find somewhere to go," Tai said.

I nodded, agreeing. "Here, let's go in this building."

We took shelter in the building and stood in the lobby, watching the rain pour down outside. Soon, it turned into a full blown storm.

I sighed. "Great. How long are we gonna be stuck in here?"

Tai was checking the list of residents. "Hey, this is Mimi's apartment!" He dialed her code number.

Mimi Tachikawa is one of our good friends. She's really nice and all, but she loves to shop a little too much. Fashion comes before everything in her life. Her mom is the same way, so that's probably where she got it from.

Mimi was glad to hear from us and opened the door for us. While we waited for the elevator, Tai looked at me and laughed.

"You've got ice cream on your face."

I probably looked so stupid. "Where?"

"On your cheek."

I wiped my cheek with my hand. "Gone?"

"It's the other side."

I wiped the other side. "Now?"

"Nope."

I did it again, frustrated and annoyed. Tai shook his head. "Here, let me."

He moved closer and rubbed my cheek with his finger. Then he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, for-" Tai licked his finger, then rubbed my cheek again. "There."

I knew I must be blushing a bit. I sure felt like I was. The elevator doors opened just then, saving me from utter embarrassment.

The three of us got in and pressed the third floor. Needless to say, it took only a minute to get to Mimi's floor.

She was apparently waiting for us, because as we walked down the hall, she opened the door and waved to us.

Kari ran down the hall to Mimi. "Hi, Kari!" Mimi exclaimed. "Wanna play dress up?"

Mimi loves to use people as human dolls, and Kari's one of her prime subjects.

Tai and I reached Mimi a moment later. She greeted us cheerfully and invited us in.

"It's some crazy weather out there," I said after Mimi gave us towels to dry off.

She nodded. "It is, isn't it? What were you doing out?"

"We went to get ice cream," Tai answered. "It started raining on the way home."

"Well, you guys should stay for awhile. I was just wondering what to do. Want to watch a movie?"

Tai and I shrugged. "Su-"

Mimi's eyes lit up, and she cut us off. "Or even better!" She grinned. "My mom's home, so she can drive us; I know exactly what we'll do."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

On the way to Mimi's secret destination, we picked up TK. Mimi insisted on it, saying he'd have a lot of fun. My mom wanted to know where we were going, and once Mimi whispered it to her, she agreed to let TK come. It made me wonder where the heck we could be going.

We also picked up another friend from school, Daisuke. He's twelve and idolizes Tai. He's a soccer player too. Dai's a lot of fun and recently, I've kind of wondered if he has a crush on Mimi. Daisuke was psyched to come, claiming it was because he was bored. Personally, I think it was because Mimi invited him to come.

The next time the car stopped, Mimi turned around and looked at us all.

"We're here!" she chirped happily.

When we got out of the car and entered the place, I stared.

"A karaoke bar?"

"Yup!" Mimi grinned. "We're gonna have tons of fun, I promise."

"Oh, boy," I heard Tai mutter.

Mimi called some more friends to come, and they actually did. How many people were there in the end?

Well, there were Yolei Inoue and Koushiro Izumi, the same age as Daisuke. There was also Jyou Kido, age 14, and Sora Takenouchi, who was my age.

In total, there were ten of us. It was going to be a long day.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Fifteen minutes later, Mimi was onstage with Daisuke, about to sing a duet. Some sort of contest was going on for duets, and Mimi had insisted that we all enter, with the exception of TK and Kari. They were too young to enter.

"This should be interesting," Tai said to me with a smirk.

The lights all went off, except for two spotlights on the stage, shining on Mimi and Daisuke. The music started up, and I recognized it immediatly. Next to me, Tai snickered.

Daisuke adjusted his headset. It was a pretty rich karaoke club, to have headset microphones.

"I got chills, they're multiplying, and I'm losing control,

'Cause the power you're supplying- it's electrifying!"

Mimi tossed her hair and stepped over Daisuke, who was on the floor.

"You better shape up, 'cause I need a man, And my heart is set on you!"

Daisuke got up and followed Mimi, who turned around and pushed him lightly, then turned and kept walking.

"You better shape up, you better understand, To my heart I must be true!"

Daisuke and Mimi faced eachother.

"Nothin' left, nothing left for me do!"

"You're the one that I want... ooh, ooh, ooh, honey! You're the one that I want... ooh, ooh, ooh, honey!

You're the one that I want... you- oo- oo, are what I need, oh yes indeed!"

There was a short break for them because of the music. Yolei whooped. "Go, Mimi!"

Mimi flashed a quick smile before starting to sing again.

"If you're filled with affection, You're too shy to convey,

Meditate in my direction... feel your way."

At this point, Daisuke ran his hands along Mimi's sides, and I was sure he was enjoying this. A lot.

Mimi pushed Daisuke's hands off and took a step back, tossing her hair once more.

"I better shape up, 'cause you need a man-" "-I need a man, who can keep me satisfied!"

"I better shape up, if I'm gonna prove-" "-Oh, you better prove, that my fate is justified!"

"Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure, down deep inside."

Mimi and Daisuke began dancing together.

"You're the one that I want, ooh ooh ooh honey! You're the one that I want, ooh ooh ooh honey!

You're the one that I want, you-oo-oo, are the one I need, oh yes indeed!"

The crowd erupted in cheers. We all clapped. "Go Mimi!" Yolei yelled again. She really idolizes Mimi, as much as Daisuke idolizes Tai, maybe more!

Mimi and Dai were beaming as they made their way back to us.

"What did you think?" Mimi asked breathlessly.

"It was amazing!" Yolei gushed.

"It was really good," Tai agreed, and I nodded. Everyone else added their opinions, all good.

"Guess who's after this next act?" Mimi asked, a glint in her eye.

"Who?" I dared to ask.

Mimi grinned. "You!"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

I stared at her. "What!"

"You and Tai! You didn't think I'd let you two off the hook, did you? A few acts after you two are Yolei and Koushi, then Jyou and Sora."

The others were pretty surprised, too.

"Are you crazy!" I exclaimed, finally finding my voice.

"Oh, come on, Matt, you've got a great voice!"

"Mimi, you're insane! What are we supposed to sing?"

"You'll find something," Mimi assured me.

"C'mon, Matt," Tai said, resting an arm around my shoulders. "It'll be fun!"

I groaned. What had I gotten myself into?

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Before long, I found myself on the stage, staring nervously at the crowd. Tai gave me a reassuring glance.

Maybe I wouldn't have been so nervous if we were singing a different song...

"Listen, baby...

Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low, ain't no river wide enough baby!"

When it ended, I was relieved beyond belief. The audience clapped and cheered, and I glared over at Mimi, who was positively glowing.

Tai and I headed off the stage and back to the others.

"You two were great!" Mimi squealed, hugging us both. Everyone agreed.

"I don't know how we're going to follow that performance," Koushiro said.

"How about we forget the contest and all go on together?" Sora suggested.

"Hey!" Yolei exclaimed. "We were going to sing 'It Takes Two'!"

"Come on, Yolei," Mimi said. "It sounds like a fun idea!"

"Actually, yeah, it does! Sure, let's do it!"

I groaned. "You mean I have to sing again?"

Tai gave me a playful shove. "Aw, you loved it."

"I know just what we're gonna sing," Mimi said, grinning. "And I'll need you for it, Dai."

"Hey, no problemo!"

"Even Kari and TK can join in on this one," Mimi said. "They know this song very well, since I positively love this movie and they've been over many times while it's on."

"Oh, no," I said knowingly. "I think I know what it is..."

"Do we all know the song?" Jyou asked.

Mimi nodded. "Yup! You'll recognize it right away!"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

After the contest was over, Mimi hurried us onstage and set us up. I instantly knew what it was. We'd done this a few times before, all of us, while watching the movie. I assumed we'd take the same parts as usual, and Mimi gave me a slight nod, aware of my thoughts.

The music came on and I saw realization dawn on the others. They began smiling when Daisuke started singing.

"Summer lovin' had me a blast," "Summer lovin' happened so fast,"

"I met a girl crazy for me," "I met a boy, cute as can be,"

"Summer days driftin' away, to oh-oh those summer nights..."

This was our part and I knew everyone was getting into character. Now it didin't matter who took what part.

"Tell me more, tell me more-" "Did you get very far?"

"Tell me more, tell me more-" "Like, does he have a car?"

Daisuke shrugged off his overshirt and threw it offstage, not caring where it landed.

"She stood by me, she got a cramp," "He went by me, got my suit damp!"

"I saved her life, she nearly drowned!" "He showed up, splashin' around."

"Summer sun, something's begun, but oh-oh those summer nights!"

"Tell me more, tell me more-" "Was it love at first sight?"

"Tell me more, tell me more-" "Did she put up a fight?"

It was almost as if it was the real movie, and we were the main characters. The crowd was moving to the music and clapping along.

"Took her bowlin' in the Arcade-" "We went strollin', drank lemonade."

"We made out, under the dock!" Daisuke waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive way.

"We stayed up, 'til ten o' clock!" Mimi winked, still managing to look like a good girl.

"Summer thing don't mean a thing, but oh-oh those summer nights!"

"Tell me more, tell me more-" "But you don't gotta brag!"

"Tell me more, tell me more-" "Cause he sounds like a drag."

"He got friendly, holdin' my hand!" Mimi's happiness was radiating from her.

"Well she got friendly, down in the sand!" Daisuke dropped to the ground and squeezed his eyes shut, singing.

"He was sweet, just turned eighteen!" "Well she was good-" Dai raised his eyebrows-"You know what I mean!"

"Summer heat, boy and girl meet, but oh-oh those summer nights!"

We were all having so much fun, and didn't drop the energy level one notch.

"Tell me more, tell me more!" "How much dough did he spend?"

"Tell me more, tell me more!" "Could she get me a friend?"

This was it, the finale. All of us, besides, Mimi and Daisuke, slowly sat down on bench-like things that we'd gotten to look like the set for the song.

Mimi wrapped her arms around herself, clutching a jacket she'd gotten from someone.

"It turned colder, that's where it ends..."

Daisuke stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down at us.

"So I told her we'd still be friends..."

Mimi looked up slightly, eyes glistening with fake tears. "Then we made our true love vow..."

Daisuke did a good job of looking wistful. "Wonder what she's doin' now..."

"Summer dreams ripped at the seams, but oh... those summer nights!"

The applause was deafening. Mimi and Dai snapped out of their dazes and broke into grins.

Daisuke hopped down from the stage and took his shirt that had landed on the ground, slinging it over his shoulder, then climbing back up onstage. Mimi joined him and Dai wrapped an arm around her.

"Thank you, Odaiba!" he shouted.

I rolled my eyes, and we all laughed.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"You've gotta admit we had fun," Mimi said as we left the club.

I grinned. "Alright, so it wasn't that bad."

"It's pretty late," Mimi said, looking up at the sky which was still cloudy and pretty dark.

"I can walk home," said Yolei. "I live around here."

"I live near you," Jyou said, "I'll walk with you."

Those two went off after saying their goodbyes.

"My mom has a van," Sora said, "She can drive the rest of us."

So Sora called her mom, who picked us all up and dropped us home.

My dad was home when I arrived, and we had dinner together. I told him about my day, and he was amused by the karaoke bit.

It wasn't hard to sleep that night. It had been an exhausting day.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

A/N: Yes, we all know ice cream isn't that hard to get off, but let's just pretend it is. Oh right, this:

**DISCLAIMER NO. 2:** What else don't I own? 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', and 'Summer Nights' and 'You're the One That I Want' from the wonderful movie 'Grease'.


	3. Confusion & Hatching Eggs

**DISCLAIMER:** Still no ownership papers for Digimon.

**How to Hatch an Egg in Three Days : Confusion and Hatching Eggs**  
by: n-chan

By noon on Saturday, the egg had moved three more times. How do I know?

Well, at around 2 in the morning, I got a phone call from Tai.

"Matt? Matt, is that you?"

"What do you want, Tai, it's 2:00AM!"

"The egg moved, Matt! I swear it did! Even Kari saw it!"

"What the heck were you two doing up?"

"We were getting midnight snacks," Tai said defensively.

"At two o' clock in the morning?"

I had him there. He sighed.

"Alright, so we were watching the egg."

"I knew it!"

"Well, we want it to hatch!"

"Tai, give it time! You can't rush an egg."

"Maybe if we put bigger lightbulbs in..."

"**Tai**! Leave the egg alone and go to sleep. Call me later. And I mean at a **reasonable** hour."

He did call me again, at ten o' clock.

"Hi, Tai."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Caller ID?"

"Oh, right. Well, it moved again!"

That I hadn't expected. "What?"

"I saw it with my own eyes!"

"And you didn't the other two times?"

"Well, yeah, but this time there's proof!"

"And why is that?"

"The egg cracked!"

That was all he had to say for me to rush over there. At 10:15, I was at Tai's place, sitting in front of the egg with him and Kari.

There was a thin, jagged line at the tip of the egg; the crack that Tai had told me about. I was still unable to believe that the egg was hatching already.

But I saw it with my own eyes at 11:30, when the egg made a sudden jerk and a small crack appeared on the other side of the egg.

"See?" Tai exclaimed, jumping out of his chair. "I told you, Yama!"

I barely noticed the nickname, so shocked by what had just happened. It was only until after that I realized what he'd called me, and by then I didn't feel like bringing up such a little thing. He probably hadn't even known that he'd said it.

Another half hour after that instance, Tai and I started watching TV while Kari sat and watched the egg.

"Do you think it'll hatch today?" I asked Tai.

"Probably," Tai replied. "I mean, it's already moved three times today! It could hatch any minute now."

But it didn't. In fact, an hour later, Kari was asleep on the couch while Tai and I flipped through channels.

"You're like her second older brother," Tai remarked out of nowhere.

I shrugged. "I guess so, kind of. Why?"

"Well, sometimes I think **you** should be her brother."

"What?"

"You always know what to do. It's like you're the perfect older brother, and I'm the screw-up."

"Tai, don't say that!" I was surprised. "I can't imagine anyone else being Kari's big brother. She looks up to you, Tai, and she loves you a lot. You're fun to be with, cheerful, sensitive, funny, caring-"

I broke off when I noticed Tai looking at me oddly and blushed.

"What?"

Tai shook his head, smiling. "Nothing, you're just... cute."

"Wh.. what?" I couldn't believe my ears.

"Never mind. Thanks, Yama, for saying that."

There it was again. This time I knew it was intentional.

"Yama?"

"It's a good nickname. I like it."

I shrugged in response and went back to watching TV, ignoring the nagging thought at the back of my mind.

_What does Tai mean, I'm cute? Why would he say that? Guys say that to girls, or girls say it to guys, girls can even get away with saying it to another girl, but a guy saying it to another guy?_

A few minutes later, Kari woke up, so I didn't get a chance to confront Tai about it. I don't think I would have, anyway. I was too chicken.

We took Kari to the park with TK. The two of them played on the slides and swings and all while me and Tai watched.

"Tai, can we talk about something?" I asked, sitting on the park bench.

Tai shrugged and sat down beside me. "Sure. What's up?"

"Well, I don't know if you know this, but... earlier you called me cute."

Tai looked at me. And laughed.

"How could I not know?"

"I don't know, it just... didn't seem like someone you should say."

Tai raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. I blushed and looked down. I must've really sounded stupid. I certainly felt stupid.

When I looked up, Tai was looking at me. Not only that, but his face was pretty damn close.

_Is he sitting closer? He wasn't this close before._

Tai sighed, and I felt his breath on my face. That's how close he was.

"You have nice eyes."

"Th-thanks..." I was nervous now. What was Tai getting at?

"No, really." Tai's eyes were locked with mine. "They're, like... they're this clear blue, and they could probably put any person into a trance, and-" Tai was really close now. Too close. "And they show what you're feeling." The last part was just barely a whisper. It was more like he breathed it.

I could swear I felt Tai's lips brush mine when he said that. I'll never know for sure, though, because right after he said that, it began to rain. Hard.

I leapt to my feet, heart still pounding, and ran over to TK and Kari to get them.

_What just happened?_

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

I was still confused as we walked home from the park, soaking wet. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't even care that my hair was getting completely ruined by the rain.

We went to Tai's house first and dried off before dropping TK home. My mom thanked us and had a little chat with Tai's mom, who had driven us there, even though it was only a second away.

When we got back up to Tai's apartment and went in the kitchen, all we could do was stare in shock.

The egg was gone.

"Mom?" Tai asked, finding his voice. "Where's the egg?"

"Hm? Oh, you mean that one sitting on the counter? Well, it was a strange colour, so I threw it out. It must've been a rotten one. Why?"

We stared at her in horror.

"What?" Tai yelped.

"What's the big deal, honey? What's wrong?" Tai's mom looked from Tai to Kari to me, confused.

"Mom, that was the egg we found that I told you about!"

Tai's mom put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, dear... I'm sorry, you three."

I couldn't believe it. All that waiting for nothing.

Suddenly, Tai's mother burst out laughing. We continue to stare.

"I find nothing funny about this," Tai said, looking at his mom strangely.

"Oh, honey, I was just kidding! Your egg's in the living room. I moved it so I could clean the counters."

Kari ran to find the egg, and Tai glared at his mother.

"That wasn't funny."

Mrs. Yagami laughed. "Lighten up, sweetie. I think it was."

After that scare, we kept an eye on the egg. I ate dinner there, then decided to sleep over. I got my stuff from my place, said bye to my dad, and went back to Tai's.

We set up our sleeping stuff on the floor of Tai's room, since Tai insisted that if I was going to sleep on the floor, he would too. Then Tai, Kari, Mrs. Yagami, and I started waching one of Kari's favorite movies.

Mr. Yagami was on a business trip and wasn't due back for another few days, but he called to wish everyone a Happy Easter. When the movie finished, Kari went to bed. Mrs. Yagami, Tai, and I played a few games of cards, then me and Tai got ready for bed also.

At 10:30, Tai and I said goodnight to his mom, then retreated to his room and closed the door so we wouldn't disturb anyone.

"What was with earlier?" I asked Tai, sitting on Tai's bed and waiting for his answer.

He sat down beside me. "What do you mean?"

Oh great, he was playing dumb.

"Earlier, Tai, at the park."

"When?"

"Tai, stop this crap, honestly!"

"Is this about the eye comment?" Tai asked.

"Yes!"

Tai sighed. "Alright, Matt, I'll talk. Don't be mad."

"Well, explain!"

"Matt, I just think that you're really... I like your eyes. It's not just your eyes, though, it's all of you."

"I don't get it."

"What's there to get? I think you're pretty. Well-not pretty, because girls are pretty. But... you know."

It was weird, but whatever.

When we actually were ready to go to sleep, Tai seemed a bit hesitant. I eventually asked what was wrong.

"Well," he said, "the floor's kinda hard."

I rolled my eyes. "Floor's kinda **supposed** to be hard, Tai. And that's why we have all these blankets."

"Yeah, but... wouldn't it just be easier to sleep on my bed?"

I stared at him. "Together? On the same bed?"

"Well, yeah. What's the problem?"

"It's weird."

"How is it weird? It's the same thing as sleeping on the floor beside each other, only we'll be more comfortable."

Reluctantly, I agreed. Normally I wouldn't have given a second thought to it, but Tai had been acting so strange lately that I was feeling uneasy around him.

Tai slipped into bed and slid over, making room for me. I got in beside him, trying to stay as close to the other edge of the bed as I could.

"Come closer," Tai said, "we both get more covers that way."

I nodded. "Yeah. Right." I moved over, but just a bit.

Tai rolled his eyes, grabbed my waist, and pulled me closer to him. I knew my face was probably red by now and silently cursed Tai.

"Sorry, did that hurt?" Tai asked.

"Yes," I lied, making up an excuse to turn away from Tai.

Startling me, Tai put his arms around me from behind. I felt him rest his chin on my shoulder, then he kissed me on the cheek and the back of my neck. I was too shocked to say anything and willed myself to sleep, not wanting to really talk about it anyway. Soon Tai and I were both in a deep sleep, dreaming of various things and forgetting all about the situation.

Until we were woken by Mrs. Yagami, who yelled from the kitchen:

"Tai, Matt, Kari; come here, quick!"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The three of us ran to the kitchen immediatly and stopped short when we saw the egg.

A tiny beak was making it's way out of the shell. I felt Tai take my hand and said nothing, too focused on the egg.

A piece of the egg cracked off and I stared in shock. Tai dropped my hand and moved closer, mouth wide open.

The bird that came out wasn't a White-Eye. In fact, it wasn't any kind of bird we could've expected.

It was a fluffy, yellow Easter chick.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

While Kari admired her new pet, Tai pulled his mother aside.

"Alright, explain," he hissed, making sure Kari didn't hear.

Tai's mom smiled. "A friend of mine runs a pet store and had just gotten this new species of bird for her store, a special for Easter. They're little chicks that never grow into chickens! So I bought one, painted the egg the same color of the one you two brought home, and voila! Le Easter chick!"

"...first of all, mom, don't try to speak french. Second of all..." Tai shook his head, and a smile crossed his face. "That was one good idea. Kari's thrilled."

He hugged his mom, and she smiled.

Suddenly, something crossed my mind.

"Hey, Mrs. Yagami? What happened to the White-Eye egg?"

Tai and I looked at his mom curiously. She laughed.

"Oh, I actually did throw it out by accident."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**


	4. Easter Chicks & Feelings

**DISCLAIMER:** Where are those papers? Well, until I get them, I don't own Digimon. Or an Easter chick.

**How to Hatch an Egg in Three Days : Easter Chicks and Feelings**  
by: n-chan

"A poor, innocent bird, dead thanks to my mom."

Tai sighed and shook his head. I lay beside him, silent. Officially, the chick had been born on Easter Sunday, since it had been around 1:00am when Tai's mom had called us. She'd been up in the kitchen filing some receipts.

I was still mulling over what had happened earlier. Tai had almost kissed me in the park, he actually had kissed me on the cheek and the neck, and... what the hell was going on?

I guess Tai sensed my frustration, because he turned me to face him.

"What's wrong?"

That was it. I just bursted.

"What's wrong? Tai, you've been acting weird for days! You said I'm cute, you kissed me, you... you... what the hell?"

"Well, you **are** cute. And I didn't kiss you on the lips, did I?"

"You would've in the park if the rain hadn't come," I accused.

"Yeah, so what? Maybe I would've."

I was stunned. Tai didn't really think that it was okay to just kiss your best friend of the same sex, did he?

"Tai, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me!"

I frowned. "I don't get it."

"You wouldn't," Tai said with a snort.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I cried, offended.

"Well, all this time you've ignored how I feel, so why should you notice now?"

This was alarming to me. "What?"

"I haven't been acting weird lately! You just chose to notice it now!"

"What the hell, Tai? You've never done all of this stuff before! You're acting a hell of a lot different!"

Tai rolled away from me, facing the other direction, and refused to answer. And that was that.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

I didn't say a word to Tai for the rest of the night, or even the next morning. As soon as I woke up and gathered my things, I left. I didn't even stay for breakfast; instead I lied to Mrs. Yagami, telling her that I was going out for breakfast with my father.

It turned out that my dad did end up taking me out for breakfast. We went to this nice little restaurant down the street. After we ordered our food, my dad began talking. It started out like one of our regular conversations.

"So, how's TK?"

I shrugged. "He's good, as usual."

"Good, good... how's your mother?"

"She's doing well, too. No problems with work or anything."

"Any new boyfriends of hers?"

I looked at my dad oddly. Why was he asking that? "No."

"Right, right..."

Why was he saying everything twice? He only did that when he was trying to bring something up casually. He probably wanted to ask me something.

"How's Kari?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Good, why?" I asked suspiciously. He was working his way up to the target.

"No reason... what about Tai?"

So he was going to ask about Tai? I hesitated for a split second. "He's fine."

"Ah, I see..." Dad nodded. For a moment, there was silence.

"How's the relationship between you and Tai? Er, you know... being best friends and all. It going alright?"

"Dad, get to the point," I said finally, cutting to the chase.

"Yamato, recently you've been acting a little differently. I'm just curious as to what's going on."

"Tai's the one acting weird! Heck, the other day he nearly kissed me!"

I broke off immediatly, seeing my dad's surprised face. I groaned inwardly. _Crap._

Dad cleared his throat. "So... er... he has feelings for you?"

"I don't know," I said plainly.

"Yamato-"

"I honestly don't know! I left as soon as I could this morning because he's been like that for days! Last night he insisted that we share his bed and then he was almost cuddling me, and I don't know what to do!"

"Yamato, I'm going to give you a piece of advice. Find out what Tai's feeling. And while you're at it, make sure of what you're feeling, too. You two have been friends for years, and you both claimed that you'd never be too scared to tell each other anything. I'd hate to see you break a promise."

It was true, we'd always been honest with each other. But if Tai had just came out and told me whatever it was that was making him do all this stuff, it wouldn't be happening in the first place. It wasn't like I had any hidden feelings that I wouldn't tell him.

After breakfast, my dad insisted that I go over to Tai's and talk with him. I refused.

The bad thing about having parents that are friends is that they talk about everything concerning you with each other. My dad called Tai's mom up and told her the whole thing about Tai and I. Of course, Mrs. Yagami wanted us to talk it out, too, so she took Kari to the park and demanded that I talk with Tai.

To ensure that we would, my dad and Tai's mom locked us in Tai's room. For about ten minutes after they left, Tai and I stood at opposite corners of the bedroom, determined not to be the first one to speak or apologize.

Finally I sighed and gave in.

"...Tai?"

Tai turned around, signaling that he was listening.

Then I ruined it.

"Tai, you should be the one apologizing."

Tai's eyes widened.

"Me? You're the one who ran out first thing this morning! I didn't even get to explain!"

"You weren't going to anyway! You didn't yesterday!"

"But I was going to **today**! I know I was out of line yesterday, and even on Friday!"

"Then why did you continue?"

"Well, let me tell you."

I crossed my arms and waited, noticing that we were a lot closer than before.

"I've been wanting to tell you this for a while, but I didn't know how you'd take it. And I kind of didn't know if it would go away or not. But it hasn't. And I thought you'd figure it out or say something about it if I did this stuff, but you haven't. Not really. But I wanted you to realize on your own so I didn't have to say it."

"Realize what?" I already knew the answer.

Tai sighed, then sat down on his bed.

"Tell me what you think I'm hiding. Go ahead."

I paused. That was all Tai needed. His lips curved into a tiny smile.

"Cause you already know."

Things between me and Tai were suddenly so different.

"You like me?"

Nodding, Tai patted the spot on the bed next to him. I sat down and waited.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked me. "Is it that bad? I mean, why do you think it's so wrong?"

"Because it is!"

"It's not. Give me one reason."

"It's not normal."

"Don't give me that crap. What are you, a preacher?"

"No, but I'm not gay. And I didn't think you were either."

"I'm not. All I said was that I like you."

"Well, that makes you gay!"

"No it doesn't! It's not like I think guys are hot or anything. I just like you."

"Well, I'm not gay."

"No, you're not. But do you like me?"

"I'm not gay."

"Do you like me?"

I frowned. Tai took that as an opportunity to speak.

"Are you mad that I like you?"

"...no."

"Well, do you think the whole idea is gross?"

"...no."

"Do you think you could like me?"

"You're a guy."

"Will you stop thinking of it that way? Don't believe in things just because people tell you to! A boy liking another boy isn't a bad thing, Matt!"

"Well, it's not-"

"Normal? Who cares?"

I was silent.

"Forget about what people have told you. Forget about the fact that guys aren't 'supposed' to like other guys. Forget that we even **are** guys! Do you like me?"

I hesitated. "I guess..." I was unsure. "How do you know you like me?"

"Because I want to make you happy. I like seeing you happy. Sometimes it doesn't matter to me if I'm upset as long as you're okay. And I wanna be close to you."

"You are close to me."

"Yeah, but, well..." Tai blushed a bit. "Sometimes I feel like kissing you."

I blushed too, then thought about it. Sometimes I did feel the things that Tai was talking about.

"So do you like me?" Tai asked again.

Slowly, I nodded. "Yeah... I think so."

"So do you wanna go out with me?"

"Nope."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Yeah, I turned Tai down. Things don't always go picture-perfect. But when I know for sure how I feel and what I am- when I'm ready-, I know Tai will be waiting for me.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**


End file.
